Mrs. Braimllari has graduated in Mathematics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana in 2003. She holds a Master diploma in Business Administration from 2006 and since year 2010 a PhD diploma in Quantitative Methods in Business from the Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana. Since October 2003, she is a member of the staff of University of Tirana. From February 2015, she holds the academic title Associate Professor. She has participated as a researcher in several research projects and is the author/co-author of journal articles and conference papers. Her research work focuses on application of quantitative methods in business and finance.
Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2018
The development of information technology has simplified the exchange of information between diff... more The development of information technology has simplified the exchange of information between different parts of the supply chain. Information quality plays an important role in enhancing supply chain performance. The aim of this research was to explore the relationships between SCM-IT inhibitors, IT enablers, information sharing, and information quality in supply chain management. Data for 183 business units operating in Vlore, Albania during 2017 were analyzed. Direct and mediating or indirect effects were also analyzed. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), an advanced statistical technique with the help of Smart-PLS version 3.2.7. PLS algorithm was used to determine the factor loadings and path coefficients in the theoretical model. The study has concluded that SCM-IT inhibitors have a negative and significant effect on information quality; the mediation effect of information sharing was significant, the mediation effect of IT ...
Women in Albania receive antenatal care and postnatal care at lower levels than in other countrie... more Women in Albania receive antenatal care and postnatal care at lower levels than in other countries in Europe. Moreover, there are large socio-economic and regional disparities in maternal health care use. Previous research in low- and middle-income countries has found that women's status within the household can be a powerful force for improving the health, longevity, and mental and physical capacity of mothers and the well-being of children, but there is very little research on this issue in the Balkans. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of women's empowerment within the household on antenatal and postnatal care utilization in Albania. The research questions are explored through the use of bivariate and multivariate analyses based on nationally representative data from the 2008-09 Albania Demographic and Health Survey. The linkages between women's empowerment and maternal health care utilization are analyzed using two types of indicators of women's empowerment: decision making power and attitudes toward domestic violence. The outcome variables are indicators of the utilization of antenatal care and postnatal care. The findings suggest that use of maternal health care services is influenced by women's roles in decision-making and the attitudes of women towards domestic violence, after controlling for a number of socio-economic and demographic factors which are organized at individual, household, and community level. The study results suggest that policy actions that increase women's empowerment at home could be effective in helping assure good maternal health.
Universal Journal of Computational Mathematics, Dec 2017
Online reviews are used by customers as an important source of information during the travel and ... more Online reviews are used by customers as an important source of information during the travel and tourism decision-making process. This research main objective is to analyze the online ratings of hotels in Tirana and Durrës, Albania. Data from Booking.com were collected for 132 hotels with 30 or more online reviews during the period of time 29 November-2 December 2017. Mean of the overall online rating of hotels was 8.65 with a standard deviation of 0.636. About 62.4% of online reviewers of hotels in Tirana have scored from 9 to 10, and 44% of online reviewers of hotels in Durrës have scored from 9 to 10. Results of two econometric models indicated that hotel's size and location negatively impact the overall online rating of the hotels, whereas the hotel's category, the number of online reviews and year the hotel was welcomed by Booking.com positively impact the overall online rating of hotels. These findings are useful for hotel guests and potential customers, and also for hotels' managers in developing appropriate marketing strategies.
European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2016
Exports of goods and services represent one of the most important sources of foreign exchange inc... more Exports of goods and services represent one of the most important sources of foreign exchange income that alleviate the pressure on the balance payment and create employment opportunities. Exports' opportunities in Albania for food products have been increasing significantly, but still they are far from their real capacity. This study is an attempt to model and forecast the monthly export of food, beverages and tobacco products of Albania, using the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) methodology. The data used are covering the period 2005:M1-2015:M12, and are taken from the database of National Institute of Statistics of Albania. Unit root tests are used to test the stationarity of the series. Autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation functions are used to identify the most suitable SARIMA model, in explaining the time series and forecasting the future monthly food exports. The residuals of the best fitted model are used for the diagnostic checking. The results indicate that the best fitted model is SARIMA (3,1,1)x(1,1,0)12. The best identified model for the data in the study is used to forecast monthly food exports up to the year 2017. These findings are useful for customers, producers and policymakers.
International Journal of Mathematics Trends and Technology , 2017
Social networking sites have transformed the way how individuals interact, build and maintain soc... more Social networking sites have transformed the way how individuals interact, build and maintain social relationships. The aim of this study was to analyze the use of Social networking Sites by undergraduate students of University of Tirana in Albania. The objectives were to find out which are the most used social networking sites by students, the frequency of use of social networking sites, the purpose of social networking sites' usage, and to study the relationship between age, gender, employment, skills in Internet use, time spend daily on Internet, time using Internet communications daily and the usage of social networking sites. Descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression model was used to analyse the data. The results indicated that about 84.5% of the students use social networks sites every day; 92% use Facebook and 77% use Instagram. The results of binary logistic regression models indicated that the number of accounts on social networking sites , and time spend daily on Internet influence the daily use of social networking sites, whereas the number of social networking sites accounts, time spend daily on Internet, time using daily Internet communications and gender of the respondent influence the daily frequency of social networking sites usage. The results of this study are useful for students, parents, lecturers and administration of University of Tirana.
Albanian Journal of Agricultural Sciences (AJAS), 2016
International trade plays a very important role in the development of all economies, including Al... more International trade plays a very important role in the development of all economies, including Albania. The aim of this study is to model and to forecast the value of food imports in Albania using time series models. The main purpose of this study is to find the most appropriate model for forecasting the value of food imports. The monthly data of food imports are taken from the Albanian Institute of Statistics and are covering the period of time January 2005 – October 2016. The two methods used in this research are Holt-Winters Method with trend and seasonality, and seasonal ARIMA model. The forecasting accuracy measures indicated that the forecasts obtained from Holt-Winters were more accurate than the forecasts of the best fitted seasonal ARIMA. These findings are useful for customers, producers, wholesalers, retailers and policymakers.
Over the past decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on supply chain management as a tool... more Over the past decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on supply chain management as a tool through which firms can achieve competitive advantage in markets. The supply chain(s) that add the most value for customers with the lowest cost comparing to the rival supply chain(s) make up the winning chain(s) of individual companies. Success in designing and coordination a competitive supply chain requires a firm and its supply chain partners to adapt readily to changes in a rapidly evolving marketplace. The aim of the paper is to investigate the current situation of supply chain management in Albania using a recent survey. The target companies are manufacturing and trading companies, in different industries, mainly operating in Tirana and Durres. The data collected from Albanian companies are used to conduct the descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression. The main objectives of the research are: to identify the benefits, the challenges and obstacles of supply chain management, to identify the types of information that companies share with chain members, the technologies that companies use to share information and to assess the impact of companies' characteristics such as size, age and expansion to level of information sharing in their supply chain. The results indicate that supply chain management is known by the companies and they are gaining the benefits from it. The results of binary logistic regression indicate that companies with international expansion, large size companies and older companies are more likely to share information with their supply chain members than other companies.
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology, 2016
Information sharing is vital for the coordination of supply chain partners. Information technolog... more Information sharing is vital for the coordination of supply chain partners. Information technologies offer numerous opportunities for information exchange between supply chain members. The aim of this study is to estimate the level of information sharing among SMEs located in Vlore city, Albania. The objectives of this research are: to identify the information technologies that are used by companies, type and frequency of information shared, to assess the level of information sharing and to identify the company characteristics like experience, number of employees, sector, role in the supply chain, use of IT tools, that impact the level of information sharing. The target population consists of all small and medium enterprises operating in Vlore city, Albania. A questionnaire was distributed to top managers and IT specialists of targeted companies during November 2015. The descriptive analysis, the chi-squared test of independence and logistic regression are used to analyze the data. It is found that the role of company as a retailer in the supply chain and the use of IT tools were positively related with the level of information sharing, whereas the local business expansion was negatively related. The results of this study are important to find out which business characteristics affect information sharing. Top managers and IT specialists of companies can be based on these results to improve the overall performance of their supply chain.
International Journal of Research in Business Management, 2014
The technological advancement has enhanced delivery of banks' services, and has an enormous effec... more The technological advancement has enhanced delivery of banks' services, and has an enormous effect on development of more flexible payments methods and more user-friendly banking services. Commercial banks in Albania to be competitive have started to offer electronic banking services. The aim of this paper is to study the usage of electronic banking services by individual clients of banks in Albania. The objectives of this research are: to identify the electronic banking services that banks' clients use, to identify the factors that influence the use of e-banking services, and to assess the influence of demographic characteristics of clients on electronic services usage. The target population was comprised by individuals that have a bank account. The results of descriptive analysis indicated that the most used electronic banking service was Automated Teller Machine. Unawareness of e-banking services and products was one of the factors that the respondents agreed that influence their adoption and use of e-banking services. The results of chi-squared test indicated that education and monthly income were significantly related to the use of electronic banking services. The results of logistic regression indicated that clients with high education level were more likely to use the electronic banking services. The findings of this study provide useful information for planning electronic banking promotion strategies.
One of the benefits of good education is that it enables individuals to contribute to the develop... more One of the benefits of good education is that it enables individuals to contribute to the development and improvement in the quality of their life, their communities and the nation as a whole. Students’ achievements in mathematics in high school are prerequisites for admission into university and have a significant effect on their academic performance in university. In addition, mathematical and quantitative skills create possibility for better chances for employment, higher wages and higher productivity on job. Thus, mathematics learning and students’ performance in mathematics receive considerable attention from educators, teachers and parents and is important to identify the factors that could influence students’ mathematics achievement to help them improve and make substantial academic progress. This study aims to investigate factors associated with business student’ success in General Mathematics course. The population of the study consists of business students attending first-year at the Faculty of Economy, at University of Tirana for 2012/2013 academic year. Using the simple random sampling, 143 business students were randomly selected and completed a questionnaire during the first week of June 2013. The questionnaire included questions about student characteristics, family characteristics and high school characteristics. The binary logistic regression was used to estimate the impact of lecture attendance, study hours, working status, average grade in mathematics in high school, father education level, mother education level and monthly family income on final examination success. The results indicated that lecture attendance, average grade in mathematics in high school, study hours and working status were statistically significant variables that influenced their final success in General Mathematics course. These findings suggest that, primarily, institution and lecturers must find out ways to increase student performance, and to motivate students for better performance. Enhancing student participation should be a crucial aspect of administration, in order to improve performance. At the same time, the lecturer should also create a good learning environment, to motivate students and engage their interest about the course.
Poverty is a widespread phenomenon in all over the world. Measurement and analysis of poverty is ... more Poverty is a widespread phenomenon in all over the world. Measurement and analysis of poverty is needed to identify the poor, the nature and extent of poverty and its determinants, and to assess the impact of policies and welfare programs on the
poor. Based on Albania Living Standard measurement Surveys (LSMSs) data, after an overall improvement of the main indicators measuring the poverty from 2002 to 2008, the percentage of population living in poverty has increased by 15.4% from 2008 to 2012 (INSTAT and World Bank, 2013). The results of LSMS 2012 data indicated an increase of poverty in both urban and rural areas, and the increase was higher in urban area. The aim of this study is to identify the determinants of poverty in Albania, at the household level using a questionnaire. The objectives of this research were: to measure the level of poverty of the sample population, to determine the potential factors that impact poverty and to evaluate their impact on the level of the household’s welfare and poverty status of the household using econometric modeling. The data were collected during November 2013, and direct interviews were conducted with 215 households living in rural and urban area. Two regression models were estimated based on the collected data, a log-linear model with the logarithm of per capita monthly consumption as the dependent variable and a logistic model with poverty status as the dependent variable, and a set of economic and demographic variables as the explanatory variables. It was found that the variables that impacted the per capita consumption of the household and the poverty status of the household were household size and residence. Poverty alleviation efforts should be made to improve the social and demographic characteristics of the households, since the number of the poor is increased in both urban and rural areas. To reduce poverty, great attention must be paid to the manufacturing sector, agriculture and tourism.
The banking industry has undergone significant operational changes over the last decade, thanks t... more The banking industry has undergone significant operational changes over the last decade, thanks to advances in information technology. The rapid diffusion of the Internet, in particular, has revolutionized the delivery channels used by the financial services industry. According to Central Bank of Albania, at the end of 2012, 11 banks in Albania provide internet banking services. Internet banking was the only home banking service during period 2005-2010. The number and value of internet banking transactions has increased from 2005 to 2012. The aim of this paper is to study the Internet banking usage by individual clients of banks in Albania. The objectives of this research are: to identify Internet banking services that banks’ clients use and to identify the socio-demographic factors that influence the use of Internet banking. The target population was comprised by individuals that have a bank account. A questionnaire was distributed to banks’ clients during November 2013. The hypothesis to be tested was: there exist any relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of the client (age, gender, residence, marital status, occupation, education level and monthly income level) and internet banking usage. To test the hypothesis chi-square test and logistic regression model was used. The results of statistical analysis indicated that banks’ clients with high education level (university and master), and those with monthly income higher than ALL 90,000 were more likely to use Internet banking. The findings of this study provide useful information for planning Internet banking promotion strategies, focusing to clients with secondary education and with average monthly income.
Services sector continues to be the big contributor in GDP of Albania, with about 60% in 2011, wh... more Services sector continues to be the big contributor in GDP of Albania, with about 60% in 2011, where trade, hotels and restorants constitute the main part of this sector. Number of hotels is increased during the last years. In 1995, the number of hotels was 62 with 2,016 beds places, whereas in 2012 the number of hotels was 248 with 18,905 beds places (INSTAT). To be successful in the market it is not sufficient to attract new customers, hotel managers must concentrate on retaining existing guests implementing effective policies of customer satisfaction. The best products in all aspects of product services not necessarily provide the best quality of services. The hotel managers need to constantly monitor the guest needs that are changeable, in order to facilitate their analysis and ensure the effective management of change in the performance of the hotel product. The aim of this study is to evaluate hotel guest satisfaction based on the critical incident analysis (Hayes 2008) and determining the extent to which the quality of hotel services meets customer needs and preferences. The research was conducted in 3- star hotels in Tirana, Albania. The data are collected in 10 mid-range hotels in the period July - August 2013. Through the analysis of this case we evaluate the overall customer satisfaction level for the hotels and for each service supplied. The results obtained in this study indicate that the level of customer satisfaction is very good considering the overall evaluation but also the lower level than expected in terms of hotels facilities and Food & Drink. The research results can be used by hotel managers in order to improve and adapt hotel services to customer needs.
The competition among enterprises has gradually become the competition between supply chains, and... more The competition among enterprises has gradually become the competition between supply chains, and it is more and more important for the cooperation among members of the supply chain to improve supply chain performance. Information sharing among members of supply chain can have an impact on supply chain integration. This article studies the determinant factors of the level of information sharing in supply chain. The population of this study is manufacturing and trading companies in Albania. A questionnaire survey was conducted to study the level of information sharing by the targeted companies. This study reveals that top management support, trust in partners, and commitment of partners are significant variables in determining the level of information sharing and in distinguishing between the organizations with high levels of information sharing and information quality and those with low levels of information sharing among supply chain partners. Manufacturing and trading organizations should be given strategic attention to information sharing because accurate, reliable and in time information can contribute to the improvement in organizational performance and competitive advantage.
Supply chain management in Albania has received little attention in the recent literature. Many c... more Supply chain management in Albania has received little attention in the recent literature. Many companies now realize that actions taken by one member of the chain can influence the profitability of all others in the chain. Companies are increasingly thinking in terms of competing as part of a supply chain against other supply chains, rather than as a single firm
Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2018
The development of information technology has simplified the exchange of information between diff... more The development of information technology has simplified the exchange of information between different parts of the supply chain. Information quality plays an important role in enhancing supply chain performance. The aim of this research was to explore the relationships between SCM-IT inhibitors, IT enablers, information sharing, and information quality in supply chain management. Data for 183 business units operating in Vlore, Albania during 2017 were analyzed. Direct and mediating or indirect effects were also analyzed. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), an advanced statistical technique with the help of Smart-PLS version 3.2.7. PLS algorithm was used to determine the factor loadings and path coefficients in the theoretical model. The study has concluded that SCM-IT inhibitors have a negative and significant effect on information quality; the mediation effect of information sharing was significant, the mediation effect of IT ...
Women in Albania receive antenatal care and postnatal care at lower levels than in other countrie... more Women in Albania receive antenatal care and postnatal care at lower levels than in other countries in Europe. Moreover, there are large socio-economic and regional disparities in maternal health care use. Previous research in low- and middle-income countries has found that women's status within the household can be a powerful force for improving the health, longevity, and mental and physical capacity of mothers and the well-being of children, but there is very little research on this issue in the Balkans. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of women's empowerment within the household on antenatal and postnatal care utilization in Albania. The research questions are explored through the use of bivariate and multivariate analyses based on nationally representative data from the 2008-09 Albania Demographic and Health Survey. The linkages between women's empowerment and maternal health care utilization are analyzed using two types of indicators of women's empowerment: decision making power and attitudes toward domestic violence. The outcome variables are indicators of the utilization of antenatal care and postnatal care. The findings suggest that use of maternal health care services is influenced by women's roles in decision-making and the attitudes of women towards domestic violence, after controlling for a number of socio-economic and demographic factors which are organized at individual, household, and community level. The study results suggest that policy actions that increase women's empowerment at home could be effective in helping assure good maternal health.
Universal Journal of Computational Mathematics, Dec 2017
Online reviews are used by customers as an important source of information during the travel and ... more Online reviews are used by customers as an important source of information during the travel and tourism decision-making process. This research main objective is to analyze the online ratings of hotels in Tirana and Durrës, Albania. Data from Booking.com were collected for 132 hotels with 30 or more online reviews during the period of time 29 November-2 December 2017. Mean of the overall online rating of hotels was 8.65 with a standard deviation of 0.636. About 62.4% of online reviewers of hotels in Tirana have scored from 9 to 10, and 44% of online reviewers of hotels in Durrës have scored from 9 to 10. Results of two econometric models indicated that hotel's size and location negatively impact the overall online rating of the hotels, whereas the hotel's category, the number of online reviews and year the hotel was welcomed by Booking.com positively impact the overall online rating of hotels. These findings are useful for hotel guests and potential customers, and also for hotels' managers in developing appropriate marketing strategies.
European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2016
Exports of goods and services represent one of the most important sources of foreign exchange inc... more Exports of goods and services represent one of the most important sources of foreign exchange income that alleviate the pressure on the balance payment and create employment opportunities. Exports' opportunities in Albania for food products have been increasing significantly, but still they are far from their real capacity. This study is an attempt to model and forecast the monthly export of food, beverages and tobacco products of Albania, using the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) methodology. The data used are covering the period 2005:M1-2015:M12, and are taken from the database of National Institute of Statistics of Albania. Unit root tests are used to test the stationarity of the series. Autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation functions are used to identify the most suitable SARIMA model, in explaining the time series and forecasting the future monthly food exports. The residuals of the best fitted model are used for the diagnostic checking. The results indicate that the best fitted model is SARIMA (3,1,1)x(1,1,0)12. The best identified model for the data in the study is used to forecast monthly food exports up to the year 2017. These findings are useful for customers, producers and policymakers.
International Journal of Mathematics Trends and Technology , 2017
Social networking sites have transformed the way how individuals interact, build and maintain soc... more Social networking sites have transformed the way how individuals interact, build and maintain social relationships. The aim of this study was to analyze the use of Social networking Sites by undergraduate students of University of Tirana in Albania. The objectives were to find out which are the most used social networking sites by students, the frequency of use of social networking sites, the purpose of social networking sites' usage, and to study the relationship between age, gender, employment, skills in Internet use, time spend daily on Internet, time using Internet communications daily and the usage of social networking sites. Descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression model was used to analyse the data. The results indicated that about 84.5% of the students use social networks sites every day; 92% use Facebook and 77% use Instagram. The results of binary logistic regression models indicated that the number of accounts on social networking sites , and time spend daily on Internet influence the daily use of social networking sites, whereas the number of social networking sites accounts, time spend daily on Internet, time using daily Internet communications and gender of the respondent influence the daily frequency of social networking sites usage. The results of this study are useful for students, parents, lecturers and administration of University of Tirana.
Albanian Journal of Agricultural Sciences (AJAS), 2016
International trade plays a very important role in the development of all economies, including Al... more International trade plays a very important role in the development of all economies, including Albania. The aim of this study is to model and to forecast the value of food imports in Albania using time series models. The main purpose of this study is to find the most appropriate model for forecasting the value of food imports. The monthly data of food imports are taken from the Albanian Institute of Statistics and are covering the period of time January 2005 – October 2016. The two methods used in this research are Holt-Winters Method with trend and seasonality, and seasonal ARIMA model. The forecasting accuracy measures indicated that the forecasts obtained from Holt-Winters were more accurate than the forecasts of the best fitted seasonal ARIMA. These findings are useful for customers, producers, wholesalers, retailers and policymakers.
Over the past decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on supply chain management as a tool... more Over the past decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on supply chain management as a tool through which firms can achieve competitive advantage in markets. The supply chain(s) that add the most value for customers with the lowest cost comparing to the rival supply chain(s) make up the winning chain(s) of individual companies. Success in designing and coordination a competitive supply chain requires a firm and its supply chain partners to adapt readily to changes in a rapidly evolving marketplace. The aim of the paper is to investigate the current situation of supply chain management in Albania using a recent survey. The target companies are manufacturing and trading companies, in different industries, mainly operating in Tirana and Durres. The data collected from Albanian companies are used to conduct the descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression. The main objectives of the research are: to identify the benefits, the challenges and obstacles of supply chain management, to identify the types of information that companies share with chain members, the technologies that companies use to share information and to assess the impact of companies' characteristics such as size, age and expansion to level of information sharing in their supply chain. The results indicate that supply chain management is known by the companies and they are gaining the benefits from it. The results of binary logistic regression indicate that companies with international expansion, large size companies and older companies are more likely to share information with their supply chain members than other companies.
Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology, 2016
Information sharing is vital for the coordination of supply chain partners. Information technolog... more Information sharing is vital for the coordination of supply chain partners. Information technologies offer numerous opportunities for information exchange between supply chain members. The aim of this study is to estimate the level of information sharing among SMEs located in Vlore city, Albania. The objectives of this research are: to identify the information technologies that are used by companies, type and frequency of information shared, to assess the level of information sharing and to identify the company characteristics like experience, number of employees, sector, role in the supply chain, use of IT tools, that impact the level of information sharing. The target population consists of all small and medium enterprises operating in Vlore city, Albania. A questionnaire was distributed to top managers and IT specialists of targeted companies during November 2015. The descriptive analysis, the chi-squared test of independence and logistic regression are used to analyze the data. It is found that the role of company as a retailer in the supply chain and the use of IT tools were positively related with the level of information sharing, whereas the local business expansion was negatively related. The results of this study are important to find out which business characteristics affect information sharing. Top managers and IT specialists of companies can be based on these results to improve the overall performance of their supply chain.
International Journal of Research in Business Management, 2014
The technological advancement has enhanced delivery of banks' services, and has an enormous effec... more The technological advancement has enhanced delivery of banks' services, and has an enormous effect on development of more flexible payments methods and more user-friendly banking services. Commercial banks in Albania to be competitive have started to offer electronic banking services. The aim of this paper is to study the usage of electronic banking services by individual clients of banks in Albania. The objectives of this research are: to identify the electronic banking services that banks' clients use, to identify the factors that influence the use of e-banking services, and to assess the influence of demographic characteristics of clients on electronic services usage. The target population was comprised by individuals that have a bank account. The results of descriptive analysis indicated that the most used electronic banking service was Automated Teller Machine. Unawareness of e-banking services and products was one of the factors that the respondents agreed that influence their adoption and use of e-banking services. The results of chi-squared test indicated that education and monthly income were significantly related to the use of electronic banking services. The results of logistic regression indicated that clients with high education level were more likely to use the electronic banking services. The findings of this study provide useful information for planning electronic banking promotion strategies.
One of the benefits of good education is that it enables individuals to contribute to the develop... more One of the benefits of good education is that it enables individuals to contribute to the development and improvement in the quality of their life, their communities and the nation as a whole. Students’ achievements in mathematics in high school are prerequisites for admission into university and have a significant effect on their academic performance in university. In addition, mathematical and quantitative skills create possibility for better chances for employment, higher wages and higher productivity on job. Thus, mathematics learning and students’ performance in mathematics receive considerable attention from educators, teachers and parents and is important to identify the factors that could influence students’ mathematics achievement to help them improve and make substantial academic progress. This study aims to investigate factors associated with business student’ success in General Mathematics course. The population of the study consists of business students attending first-year at the Faculty of Economy, at University of Tirana for 2012/2013 academic year. Using the simple random sampling, 143 business students were randomly selected and completed a questionnaire during the first week of June 2013. The questionnaire included questions about student characteristics, family characteristics and high school characteristics. The binary logistic regression was used to estimate the impact of lecture attendance, study hours, working status, average grade in mathematics in high school, father education level, mother education level and monthly family income on final examination success. The results indicated that lecture attendance, average grade in mathematics in high school, study hours and working status were statistically significant variables that influenced their final success in General Mathematics course. These findings suggest that, primarily, institution and lecturers must find out ways to increase student performance, and to motivate students for better performance. Enhancing student participation should be a crucial aspect of administration, in order to improve performance. At the same time, the lecturer should also create a good learning environment, to motivate students and engage their interest about the course.
Poverty is a widespread phenomenon in all over the world. Measurement and analysis of poverty is ... more Poverty is a widespread phenomenon in all over the world. Measurement and analysis of poverty is needed to identify the poor, the nature and extent of poverty and its determinants, and to assess the impact of policies and welfare programs on the
poor. Based on Albania Living Standard measurement Surveys (LSMSs) data, after an overall improvement of the main indicators measuring the poverty from 2002 to 2008, the percentage of population living in poverty has increased by 15.4% from 2008 to 2012 (INSTAT and World Bank, 2013). The results of LSMS 2012 data indicated an increase of poverty in both urban and rural areas, and the increase was higher in urban area. The aim of this study is to identify the determinants of poverty in Albania, at the household level using a questionnaire. The objectives of this research were: to measure the level of poverty of the sample population, to determine the potential factors that impact poverty and to evaluate their impact on the level of the household’s welfare and poverty status of the household using econometric modeling. The data were collected during November 2013, and direct interviews were conducted with 215 households living in rural and urban area. Two regression models were estimated based on the collected data, a log-linear model with the logarithm of per capita monthly consumption as the dependent variable and a logistic model with poverty status as the dependent variable, and a set of economic and demographic variables as the explanatory variables. It was found that the variables that impacted the per capita consumption of the household and the poverty status of the household were household size and residence. Poverty alleviation efforts should be made to improve the social and demographic characteristics of the households, since the number of the poor is increased in both urban and rural areas. To reduce poverty, great attention must be paid to the manufacturing sector, agriculture and tourism.
The banking industry has undergone significant operational changes over the last decade, thanks t... more The banking industry has undergone significant operational changes over the last decade, thanks to advances in information technology. The rapid diffusion of the Internet, in particular, has revolutionized the delivery channels used by the financial services industry. According to Central Bank of Albania, at the end of 2012, 11 banks in Albania provide internet banking services. Internet banking was the only home banking service during period 2005-2010. The number and value of internet banking transactions has increased from 2005 to 2012. The aim of this paper is to study the Internet banking usage by individual clients of banks in Albania. The objectives of this research are: to identify Internet banking services that banks’ clients use and to identify the socio-demographic factors that influence the use of Internet banking. The target population was comprised by individuals that have a bank account. A questionnaire was distributed to banks’ clients during November 2013. The hypothesis to be tested was: there exist any relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of the client (age, gender, residence, marital status, occupation, education level and monthly income level) and internet banking usage. To test the hypothesis chi-square test and logistic regression model was used. The results of statistical analysis indicated that banks’ clients with high education level (university and master), and those with monthly income higher than ALL 90,000 were more likely to use Internet banking. The findings of this study provide useful information for planning Internet banking promotion strategies, focusing to clients with secondary education and with average monthly income.
Services sector continues to be the big contributor in GDP of Albania, with about 60% in 2011, wh... more Services sector continues to be the big contributor in GDP of Albania, with about 60% in 2011, where trade, hotels and restorants constitute the main part of this sector. Number of hotels is increased during the last years. In 1995, the number of hotels was 62 with 2,016 beds places, whereas in 2012 the number of hotels was 248 with 18,905 beds places (INSTAT). To be successful in the market it is not sufficient to attract new customers, hotel managers must concentrate on retaining existing guests implementing effective policies of customer satisfaction. The best products in all aspects of product services not necessarily provide the best quality of services. The hotel managers need to constantly monitor the guest needs that are changeable, in order to facilitate their analysis and ensure the effective management of change in the performance of the hotel product. The aim of this study is to evaluate hotel guest satisfaction based on the critical incident analysis (Hayes 2008) and determining the extent to which the quality of hotel services meets customer needs and preferences. The research was conducted in 3- star hotels in Tirana, Albania. The data are collected in 10 mid-range hotels in the period July - August 2013. Through the analysis of this case we evaluate the overall customer satisfaction level for the hotels and for each service supplied. The results obtained in this study indicate that the level of customer satisfaction is very good considering the overall evaluation but also the lower level than expected in terms of hotels facilities and Food & Drink. The research results can be used by hotel managers in order to improve and adapt hotel services to customer needs.
The competition among enterprises has gradually become the competition between supply chains, and... more The competition among enterprises has gradually become the competition between supply chains, and it is more and more important for the cooperation among members of the supply chain to improve supply chain performance. Information sharing among members of supply chain can have an impact on supply chain integration. This article studies the determinant factors of the level of information sharing in supply chain. The population of this study is manufacturing and trading companies in Albania. A questionnaire survey was conducted to study the level of information sharing by the targeted companies. This study reveals that top management support, trust in partners, and commitment of partners are significant variables in determining the level of information sharing and in distinguishing between the organizations with high levels of information sharing and information quality and those with low levels of information sharing among supply chain partners. Manufacturing and trading organizations should be given strategic attention to information sharing because accurate, reliable and in time information can contribute to the improvement in organizational performance and competitive advantage.
Supply chain management in Albania has received little attention in the recent literature. Many c... more Supply chain management in Albania has received little attention in the recent literature. Many companies now realize that actions taken by one member of the chain can influence the profitability of all others in the chain. Companies are increasingly thinking in terms of competing as part of a supply chain against other supply chains, rather than as a single firm
9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Information Systems and Technology Innovations - Smart economy and digital transformation, 2019
Mobile telephony has become one of the main factors driving the social and economic development o... more Mobile telephony has become one of the main factors driving the social and economic development of a country. This study examines the diffusion process of mobile telephony in Albania,. The main objective of this research is to model and to forecast the diffusion rate of mobile telephony using Logistic and Gompertz models, and World Bank data. Results indicated that Logistic model outperform Gompertz model and give the minimum forecast error to mobile telephony diffusion rate for countries in the study excluding Greece. Comparing the estimated parameters of the best fitted models, Bulgaria has the highest estimated speed of diffusion of 0.647, whereas Albania has the lowest diffusion speed (0.178). The results of Logistic model, the best model for prediction of the mobile telephony diffusion rate in Albania, indicate that the maximum level of mobile diffusion of 132% is predicted to be achieved in year 2025. Diffusion of mobile technology of other countries in the study has achieved the maximum level. These findings are useful to customers, telecommunication operators, and policy makers.
During the travel and tourism decision making process, the online reviews are used as an importan... more During the travel and tourism decision making process, the online reviews are used as an important source of information by hotel guests. The main objective of this research was to analyze the online ratings of hotels in Albania. The data from Booking.com were collected for 220 hotels with 40 or more online reviews during the period of time 4-6 January 2017. The results of descriptive analysis indicated that about 44% of the hotels in the sample are located in Tirana-Durrёs region, 40% have 20 to 30 rooms, 48% are 3-stars hotels, and 45% had from 40 to 100 online reviews. The average of overall online rating of hotels was 8.57 and 68.2% of the hotels had an overall online rating ranging from 7 to 9. To analyze the relationships between hotels' size, hotel's category, hotel's region, the number of online reviews and the overall online rating of the hotels, two econometric models were estimated. Results of econometric models indicated that hotel's size and region negatively impact the overall online rating of the hotels, whereas the hotel's category and the number of online reviews positively impact the overall online rating. These findings are useful for hotel guests and potential customers, and also for hotels' managers in order to increase the online ratings of their hotels and customer satisfaction. The hotels' managers should pay attention to the online reviews provided by the hotel guests and they must encourage their guests to write reviews about their hotel stay.
Internet has become part of everyday life for many people after its commercialization and rapid g... more Internet has become part of everyday life for many people after its commercialization and rapid growth. Empirical evidence shows that Internet has significant economic effect and richer countries possess higher concentrations of Internet users in comparison with poorer countries. This paper aims to study the diffusion process of Internet for Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia FYR, Romania and Slovenia. The main objective of this research is to model and predict the level of Internet diffusion using the World Bank data of percentage of Internet users and to compare the obtained results. After it was confirmed that the diffusion of the Internet follows the S-shaped curve, the Logistic and Gompertz models were estimated using STATA. The parameters of Logistic and Gompertz models give information on the Internet diffusion speed and the maximum potential percentage of Internet users. These findings about Internet diffusion rate are useful for providers of Internet service and products, customers and policy makers.
The development of information technology has reduced the information processing costs and the in... more The development of information technology has reduced the information processing costs and the internet has facilitated the communication. Internet has become an incredible valuable information resource. The goal of this study is to analyze the use of Internet by undergraduate students of University of Tirana in Albania. Data were collected through the use of a questionnaire during the period December 2016-February 2017 from the second-year and third-year enrolled students at Faculty of Economy and Faculty of Natural Sciences of University of Tirana. The results indicate that 28.8% of the students use Internet for academic learning for five or more hours weekly and 84.5% of them use social networks every day. The results of chi-square test of independence indicated significant relations between year of study, Faculty, study program, number of hours spent daily on Internet, computer use skills and the number of hours spent weekly on the Internet for learning. The results of Tobit regression model indicated that gender, program of study, and faculty, where the respondents were attending their studies, influence the number of hours spent weekly on Internet for learning. The results of this study are useful for students, lecturers and administration of University.
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Papers by Alma Braimllari (Spaho)
poor. Based on Albania Living Standard measurement Surveys (LSMSs) data, after an overall improvement of the main indicators measuring the poverty from 2002 to 2008, the percentage of population living in poverty has increased by 15.4% from 2008 to 2012 (INSTAT and World Bank, 2013). The results of LSMS 2012 data indicated an increase of poverty in both urban and rural areas, and the increase was higher in urban area. The aim of this study is to identify the determinants of poverty in Albania, at the household level using a questionnaire. The objectives of this research were: to measure the level of poverty of the sample population, to determine the potential factors that impact poverty and to evaluate their impact on the level of the household’s welfare and poverty status of the household using econometric modeling. The data were collected during November 2013, and direct interviews were conducted with 215 households living in rural and urban area. Two regression models were estimated based on the collected data, a log-linear model with the logarithm of per capita monthly consumption as the dependent variable and a logistic model with poverty status as the dependent variable, and a set of economic and demographic variables as the explanatory variables. It was found that the variables that impacted the per capita consumption of the household and the poverty status of the household were household size and residence. Poverty alleviation efforts should be made to improve the social and demographic characteristics of the households, since the number of the poor is increased in both urban and rural areas. To reduce poverty, great attention must be paid to the manufacturing sector, agriculture and tourism.
poor. Based on Albania Living Standard measurement Surveys (LSMSs) data, after an overall improvement of the main indicators measuring the poverty from 2002 to 2008, the percentage of population living in poverty has increased by 15.4% from 2008 to 2012 (INSTAT and World Bank, 2013). The results of LSMS 2012 data indicated an increase of poverty in both urban and rural areas, and the increase was higher in urban area. The aim of this study is to identify the determinants of poverty in Albania, at the household level using a questionnaire. The objectives of this research were: to measure the level of poverty of the sample population, to determine the potential factors that impact poverty and to evaluate their impact on the level of the household’s welfare and poverty status of the household using econometric modeling. The data were collected during November 2013, and direct interviews were conducted with 215 households living in rural and urban area. Two regression models were estimated based on the collected data, a log-linear model with the logarithm of per capita monthly consumption as the dependent variable and a logistic model with poverty status as the dependent variable, and a set of economic and demographic variables as the explanatory variables. It was found that the variables that impacted the per capita consumption of the household and the poverty status of the household were household size and residence. Poverty alleviation efforts should be made to improve the social and demographic characteristics of the households, since the number of the poor is increased in both urban and rural areas. To reduce poverty, great attention must be paid to the manufacturing sector, agriculture and tourism.